The Disaster of Time
by Moonhera
Summary: Oishi is left to deal with a disaster, all starting from an argument. So how does he cope when time plays a dirty trick on him?
1. Chapter 1

Oishi was in a grouchy mood, a sour grouchy mood. He had fallen out with Eiji yesterday over something trivial which had then lead to falling out with the rest of the team, even Tezuka. The others had just coped with it, Eiji had not looked pleased and refused to speak with him, even through texts, and Tezuka had not answered Oishi's calls all night as the boy had tried to get a coursework question, which had lead him to have a rather restless night as Oishi also wanted to apologize for his behaviour. He had even turned down the picture he had of the team at the nationals. Oishi on not much sleep was not a pleasant Oishi, although not many people knew about that because he normally got plenty of sleep ready for the next day. Whilst packing for the school day, he then couldn't find his trainers or one of his history school books. He had then bumped into someone in the street and nearly caused an accident on his way to morning practice, which had ended up with helping the woman get home on a bruised ankle and then had to take a note to the school her child was at to ask for them to accept for a relative to pick the child up. This also meant he was late to morning practice, in which he was supposed to open up this morning.

This all summed up to one very grouchy and tired Oishi and the day hadn't even begun. Clutching tightly at his school bag in his left hand, Oishi looked over at the gates of the school grounds, and gave a long sigh. There was barely twenty minutes until class started, and he hoped Tezuka had been able to get a spare key from the janitors or someone so they could help the first years train. He had also been hoping for a chance to apologize to the team for the rather loud argument that had taken place yesterday. Turing the corner past the gates, Oishi nearly stumbled back in surprise and alarm when he saw the numerous police cars in the car park. Policemen and women in uniform were talking to some students, all who looked a little bit confused and lost about the situation. Frowning and not being one to want to draw attention to himself, Oishi slipped past the groups and headed towards the tennis courts, looking anxiously at the number of people there were as they increased.

It was outside the clubroom door was the most police officers, students of the tennis club were scattered about, Horio was even talking to one, although the woman looked like she was regretting the choice. Ryuzaki sensei was also in a conversation with what seemed one of the most important police officers around with the amount of stripes on his shoulders. Oishi carried on walking towards the adviser of the tennis club, partly confused as to way he couldn't see any of the other regulars there. Oishi watched as the person Ryuzaki was with looked over at him and then back at the elder woman, whom only gave a short stout nod. The man walked over to Oishi, who stopped in mid step.

"Oishi Syuichiro?" Oishi gave a single nod in reply. The man placed his hand on the vice-captain's right shoulder, before removing the tennis bag.  
>"Eh? What's going on?" Oishi asked, looking around, a fear taking over him.<br>"Oishi Syuichiro I am arresting you of several accounts of kidnapping. You do not have to say anything. But it may harm your defence if you do not mention when questioned something which you later rely on in court. Anything you do say may be given in evidence.""Eh?" Oishi asked alarmed as he felt his arms brought behind his back and the cuffs snapped around his wrists. Ryuzaki looked away from Oishi.  
>"The rest of the regulars have disappeared Oishi, they seemed to have been kidnapped."<p>

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><p><strong>Okay, this one is not going to updated everyday, it will be updated when I get my new word program for my new laptop. I might update everyday then. <strong>


	2. Chapter 2

"_I don't know what you mean," Oishi whispered, his legs were pulled up to his chest, his forehead firmly resting on his knees. "I went home. I don't know anything," he said looking up at the police officer who sat in front of him across the plain table. _

"_Oishi kun, we know that you didn't go straight home. Your parents said that you came in much later than expected and you were very out of character. Something must have happened earlier, like the argument you had with your team mates." The police officer replied, his hands were held in front of him as they drummed against his knuckles, the movement unnerving Oishi even further whenever the boy looked up. _

"_I went home; the train was cancelled so I had to wait for the next one which was why I was late. I wouldn't do anything to hurt them, I tried to apologize to them but I couldn't get hold of Tezuka or Eiji. The argument was over something stupid, Eiji had forgotten to do his homework and had got into trouble about it, I shouldn't have snapped at him. Then I started getting angry with everyone else but I would never hurt them. I wouldn't! I wouldn't!" Oishi rocked his head, the pace in his voice gaining in speed throughout his statement._

"_Oishi kun please calm down. You're not going to help anyone if your panicking." The police officer said, his hands still retaining the same movement as before. _

"_But you think I hurt them, you think I took them somewhere and hurt them. You think that did that, but I wouldn't. I would never hurt them."_

"_Oishi kun," the police officer pushed back his chair in alarm as Oishi's body began to rock back and forth on the chair, his head moving from side to side. _

"_But you think I'm the reason they didn't come home. You think I hurt them, don't you?" A tear stained face looked up at the police officer, who blinked several times in return to the response. _

"_There was blood in the club room and you were the last one seen with them due to the regulars training late and you did have an argument with them, a fierce one from what witness have told us."_

"_And all of that makes me the main suspect?" Oishi was almost yelling, wild eyes looking at the police officer but he still didn't move from his position the chair, his arms wrapped tightly around himself, a protective position, his breathing was getting short and harsh. The police officer only nodded as Oishi's forehead found its way back on to his knees and he started rocking again. "I didn't do it, I wouldn't hurt them. Why don't you believe me? I wouldn't hurt them. I couldn't hurt them. Why don't you believe me? Why? I couldn't…" _

Gasping for breath, he felt his right hand going to chest in order to help him elevate the panic that was setting in. Rubbing it he took deep breaths and within a few minutes started to calm down. Turning his body around to face the room, Oishi turned on the shabby bedside lamp on his left before rubbing his face and running his right hand through his hair. Looking at the floor, he slipped his slippers on and grabbed at the grey dressing gown that hung on the headrest, slipping it on before heading out through the bedroom door into the stone walled hallway. He made his way to the right and feeling his way down the stairs made his way into the kitchen off the main entrance hallway. Turning on the kitchen light, he made his way over to one of the oak wood cabinets and pulled out a glass, taking it over to the sink and pouring himself some water. He took it over to the small table in the room and pulling out the chair sat down in it before drinking the water slowly to allow him to collect his thoughts. He almost always had to do this after getting flash backs like that. Some of the best days of his life had turned into the worst.

Arrested and then released on bail after there were no more leads, five years on and as far as he knew he was still the main suspect but the case had been closed. Oishi had tried to go back to a normal life, as much as he could but everything had changed. People in his class and year had treated him like he didn't exist, teachers would over look him. Ryuzaki asked him to leave the tennis club, she said she wanted him to concentrate on his studies but he knew that everyone in the tennis club got nervous around him and couldn't play properly. It got worse the closer he got to home, chattering women would point him out to others and he would sometimes over hear them, speaking about him and about the case. At home, his family treated him like a piece of glass that was the wrong shape to find the gap it need to go in. The few times they would speak to him would be in a monotone voice, and when they would accidently touched him, like everyone else, they would jump away in fear like he was about to kidnap them too.

In response Oishi changed as well. He withdrew himself from the outside world and found himself playing tennis against an abandoned wall outside of the busy city to keep himself sane, speaking little. He studied harder and his grades somehow improved even without the teacher's input. He graduated high school two years early and applied for a university in Scotland, in which he was accepted. Oishi could remember the badly covered relieved faces of his family as he handed the letter of his acceptance to them so they could read it. Then he left without warning, not telling anyone he was going so he was alone when he left Japan and was alone when he arrived in Scotland. He studied History and English at a small university, supporting himself with a part time job which soon escalated into a very well paid part time job in which he was earning more a year than the top average full time worker would earn in ten years, meaning he was able to pay off his tuition fees by the end of his three year course at the age of eighteen and was able to buy himself a ruined old house in the middle of nowhere with large grounds, with enough money to comfortable live on and repair the large house. He didn't realise how large it was until it had been finished, it was certainly getting on to the size of a small castle. He had started writing a series of books based on a group of eight children in the university and was able to have them published a year before he graduated. It was well received by many readers. He retired from his part time job and became a full time writer under a pen name, which allowed for his wish to be alone and away from society. Oishi had not contacted his family in five years nor had he been back to Japan.

Standing up from the table and taking the glass over to the sink, Oishi turned himself around and walked out of the kitchen turning off the light after glancing at the time. 2.35 in the morning, it was far too early for really getting up. Glancing out into the dark entrance hallway, Oishi nodded to himself. In the end, in a method to protect himself from society he had found a style of life that he preferred. He couldn't be hurt or hurt anyone if he was alone.

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><p><strong>Hey! I found a word program on my laptop (well I had it anyway but its only a demo). <strong>

**GP-2011:** Thank you. XD I must admit I do feel very sorry for Oishi but he's just opened himself for me to use**  
>Vermouth01 :<strong> There we go updated! by the way I did like your last chapter but my mum called me and I couldn't review :( silly mumfr  
><strong>Frog-kun:<strong> Hi hi! It was meant to be very abrupt. **  
>eijikikumarufan01:<strong> Oh they can arrest people if it is in the matter of a national security risk, but I hope this clears it up a bit, if not I will explain it slightly better in a PM  
><strong>NewSlove:<strong>The whole point of Oishi being arrested was it was the extreme ends of weird, and it would draw people in. Hope your enjoying the story so far.

**review please!**


	3. Chapter 3

Oishi was refusing to look at the calendar; he refused to because he knew what day it was. He could feel it in the wind, in the cold bitterness of the Scottish autumns, when the wind whistled, howled and lashed around him as he walked down to an area on the plot of land he owned that he farmed on to keep himself sufficient enough not to have to meet anybody too regularly. This was the one day in the world that he wished he could reverse in time and stop from ever happening. The nightmares got worse up to this day and then after a week of sleepless nights would trundle away into nothing, waiting like a tiger in the wild long grass to pounce on him and cause him to suffer once again. It was a never ending cycle but there was nothing he could do to stop it. He had accepted Fate's claws around him and would only wait for the time when it would stop. It was slow sluggish steps he had taken this morning as doubts waded on his mind. Maybe if he had been there he could have stopped whatever had happened, helped the person who had his blood spilt on the clubroom floor. Maybe if he hadn't argued with them that day over a silly matter, they would have been home that night, in university or a job right now five dark years later. If there was some way to reverse the clocks that day, Oishi would have found it and done, albeit even death would have looked pale in the knowledgeable reward that the majority of the once formidable Seigaku tennis team regulars would return home. Oishi knew the more he thought about it, the more he felt like he had been the catalyst of the destruction of many people's lives.

Sitting in the warm dark coloured wood panelled study, where books he had recused from the ruins, piled high up to the high ceilings in tall bookshelves, pictures, also found packed in boxes in the ruins, lined the empty spaces between the end of the bookshelves and the ceiling to floor windows. The central heating was off so a fire could crackle in glee, illuminating the rich fabrics of the chairs and rugs along with the dark chestnut wood desk, upon which stood a sleek black desktop monitor, the tower hidden out of sight. A black handset stood on its left and a single picture frame, with a old picture in it with a precious memory behind it, stood on its left viewable to the person whom would be sitting in the chair. This person was only Oishi; no one else had ever entered this room since its abandonment presumably. That was apart from the one who brushed against his leg as he was busily typing away at the new chapter of his story in which his publisher had asked him to write in preparation for the new book which was still one or two years away.

Gold fur brushed off on his black trousers and a panting noise could be heard as a golden head snuggled its way on to Oishi's lap from underneath the desk. The only contact Oishi had ever had that was welcome and was on purpose in those five years. A golden retriever aged only a year old whom he had bought from a rescue centre a few months back after the house had been completed. Oishi gave a smile as he looked down at the dog.

"I've already fed you this morning and it's raining outside so you're not going out because you'll just roll around in the mud." Oishi scolded, smiling. The dog only titled her head to Oishi's left as the once former vice captain fussed her head. "Look, if it doesn't stop in an hour I will take you for a walk only if it doesn't get worse." The dog only looked at him as if to say he was the weirdest person on the world and came out from under the desk, wandering off to the open door which lead out into the entrance hallway. "Oh Leah!" Oishi called out, the dog stopped and turned to look at her master, "no going near the food. I know about your stomach and all food it successfully locked away or out of reach." The dog only replied by wagging her tail several hundred times, giving a him a look that said 'now would I do something like that?' before scampering off to presumably get something or do something that Oishi could only wonder about.

Oishi gave a smile and sunk down into his chair, looking at the story in front of him. It was a well-received story published in Japan, Britain and America about eight children going on various dark and dangerous adventures battling the villains and gaining friends on the way. Oishi knew it should have been about nine but somehow he could never find the courage to include that last person. There was the boy captain of the group whom never smiled, the data calculating boy who was always making new drinks, the genius of the group who was a very good fighter who was very protective, the boy who was always kind to his comrades but in a fight was very scary, there was the youngest member of the group who had only just joined the group at the beginning of book one who didn't back down from a challenge, the next two eldest were always bickering but when they worked together they got through things very quickly, and finally the acrobatic of the group who never stopped smiling apart from having the few arguments they had. They always managed to come victorious in the end but they were missing a person. Somewhere on his computer he had a small paragraph describing the ninth character but it had only been opened once and then shut away. He had never deserved to be their friend, not after he was the cause of a tragedy.

A crack of thunder and the spilt of lightning outside the window brought Oishi back round to present day making him stare outside. It was coming down heavy for a sudden thunder storm, he was glad he had placed the weather cover around the small vegetable and fruit farm he had. However he was surprised when he heard the whimpering of his dog coming from the study doorway, not moving any further in but not going back out.

"Come here," Oishi said coming out from behind his desk and kneeling down. The golden retriever didn't come any closer. "What's wrong?" Oishi asked giving up, like he expected an answer from the large fluffy dog, and going over to fuss her. As he came closer Leah backed away from him. Another crash of thunder was heard from outside. Oishi looked back outside once more, glad he wasn't out there and feeling sorry for anyone that was. He walked towards his dog again but she scampered away further this time like she was trying to lead him somewhere. Sighing Oishi dropped his head before following her.

She took him to the wood double front door that he had specially made for the house to keep in style with the period. They were also very handy at keeping away unwelcome visitors which were the few who dared adventure up the gravel driveway to it, he had heard in the local town when he had gone to buy meat and things he couldn't grow, that even the post man hated travelling up here. Leah started barking at the door as another crash of thunder could be heard throughout the hallway, and Oishi shivered realising how warm his study was compared to the rest of the place. It was then he heard the constant knocking on the front, little pounding knocks against the door, several of them all at once. Now normally Oishi would ignore the knocks, such as life had treated him to the extent of isolation. However he knew he couldn't allow for people to be travelling in this weather. With a long sigh he called out to the people outside. "Let me open the door," he called, only just in time before thunder was heard. The storm was more or less directly overhead. He turned on the hallway lights before opening one of the doors to look straight ahead at the dark sky; no one was there. He could see no one. It was then he felt the crashing of someone into his legs and clutching his left one tightly. A weird feeling made Oishi stiffen and with a tense body he looked down, past the visitors that were a group of seven children to the attachment on his leg, the eighth child. All he could see, of what obviously was the youngest child, was a startling tuff of red hair, similar to the colour of an acrobatics' he only saw now in his nightmares.

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><p><strong>I've barely even begun this story. Although I am trying not to make it as long as the last one ... that one got out of hand<strong>

**GP-2011:** No way is that the end. And Oishi is worrying about them but he can't do anything about it but he does worry about them which is why I wrote a bit more about his books in this chapter.  
><strong>NewSlove:<strong> YAY! I'm glad you like it. I try to make different stories but it might help that there isn't many friendship stories on POT fanfic**  
>Vermouth01:<strong> I updated early! I hope you like it!

**Review please! Pretty please with a chocolate drop on top and a hug from your favourite POT character?**


	4. Chapter 4

He placed the mug of hot chocolate in the youngest hands before walking over to the only free sofa in the room left now, the dog was comfortably lying on the rug in front of the fireplace, asleep. Oishi had previously thought he had too many sofas and living chairs within the large living space but he was now glad that he had gone with the idea of keeping it authentic to the era. The drenched bedraggled children, aging from what looked like about four years old to about ten, held various mugs and were covered in thick towels which Oishi had. He taken them in here and started the fire, after removing the youngest red head from his leg. The time he had taken to gather all the towels and make the hot chocolates to get over the fact that the children looked like they were the tennis regulars expect as younger children, when in reality Echizen would about seventeen, Kaidoh and Momo about eighteen and the rest coming on his age. Still that way that they all sat, the way they just stared at him, their eyes, they were similar to the eyes that haunted his dreams. Shaking his head Oishi looked at the collective bunch in front of him, as most of them sat drinking the hot chocolate.

The red head was obsessively looking at him, and not at the mug that sat on the edge of his lap between his hands, so Oishi was trying to avoid looking at him. He smiled at the youngsters.

"Now, I can't let you back out into the storm." Oishi started, looking down at his hands, which were tightly clutching each other, they were suddenly very interesting. There was no reply to his previous statement after a few seconds of waiting for one so thinking safe Oishi carried on. It unnerved him that these children were here, in front of him. "So you may be spending the night here, for which I will set some of the beds up however as soon as the storm lets up I will be phoning your parents to reassure them that you're alright. So …" Oishi heard the clatter of a mug dropping and looked up at surprise as the red head reattached himself to Oishi, by running around the coffee table situated in the middle of the group of red armchairs and sofa, and clutching at Oishi's waist firmly, head burying into his stomach.

"Oishi sempai," came a whisper from the short scruffy black hair, his cheeks were caved in, much like the rest and was, what Oishi gathered from guessing was about seven years, leaning heavily on the boy next to him, like he was sleepy. If he had been able to put a name to the child, all Oishi could think of would be the name Momo. Oishi could see the signs of heavy malnutrition clearly in their eyes and faces. Oishi gulped as he looked over at the child, wondering how he knew his name.  
>"Yes?" Oishi asked the child. One of the eldest ones spoke up then, fair brown haired which fell to the edge of his chin line, 'Fuji' Oishi thought before shaking his head clear.<p>

"Oishi, gomen." The child bowed his head deeply without disturbing the towel or mug of chocolate. Oishi blinked several times in surprise as the apology came.

"What are you sorry about? How do you even know my name?" it was difficult to force the words out, he really hadn't spoken that much to many people in the previous five years and it surprised him how much power it took to speak those words clearly and not in a whisper. There was a tightening on his waist almost as if the red head four year old was trying to reach all the way around his waist in his hug. With a hesitant hand he placed it on the red bundle of hair in a method to try and comfort the child.

"Eiji," the five year old who held very close similarities to Tezuka, spoke up, Oishi could only watch as the boy named Eiji shook his head under his hand, and buried in even deeper, if it was possible. Oishi could feel the back of his blue t-shirt he was wearing being pulled. Oishi held up his free right hand to indicate it was alright to leave Eiji there and in fact picked up the child and placed him on his lap. It was easier to breathe that way. Eiji then buried his head into Oishi's left shoulder; it was an amazement that the towel had managed to stay on during his encounter.

"There is a 98 per cent chance that he recognises us but refuses to say so," Oishi almost winced visibly at how croaky the voice sounded as the data came out from the boy with the thick square black framed glasses. Eiji snuggled tighter against Oishi as the data came out and Oishi could feel his shirt tightening again.

"Saa and there's a 100 per cent chance that you've caught a bad cold from the storm Inui. Right Oishi?" Oishi could only blink as the boy, who was so similar to Fuji it was untrue, tilted his head at him as if he dared the elder to question him. "Eiji, I'm sure Oishi recognises us but just has had a bit of a shock. I mean it's been …" Fuji paused as if trying to work out how long they had disappeared. Oishi gave a long sigh, "five years" he gave helpful. Fuji nodded his head. "Five years Eiji and we're in children's bodies. Anyone could have a shock from that." Oishi watched as Fuji hopped off the sofa, placing his now empty mug on the coffee table and walked around to Eiji placing a hand on the small child's back. It was only close up that Oishi realised that all the time he had seen Fuji, the boy had his eyes open and that he was really starting to think they were the regulars in smaller forms. Eiji turned to look at Fuji, wiping away all the tears that had coursed down his face and gave a small nod.

"Oishi, didn't you say you were going to make up some beds? I believe some of us need to get some sleep." Oishi nodded as he removed Eiji from his left knee and placed him on the red sofa against the brown-yellow coloured cushion. All words now had officially left him. As he had just left the room and was just out of sight he felt the tug of his t-shirt and looking down he found that Fuji had followed him.

"We'll explain what happened in a bit when some of the others are out of the room." Fuji said before disappearing back into the living room, leaving Oishi standing there opened mouthed, immediately talking to Tezuka.

"Saa Tezuka, you should go to bed as well."

"Fuji" came a very familiar reply. Oishi was left to think what to make out of all of this in the dark hallway of a very isolated house.

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><p><strong>Sorry, not very well done but I was up and down all day. My mum wanted me to do things all day and yesterday I had a sims 2 addication. <strong>  
><strong>But it seems things will be explained in the next chapter but there is some unpleasants thing to be foretold<strong>

**eijikikumarufan01:** Mou ... thank you! I wondered where you had gone, you had said you were going to be free by this weekend! Yes the seigaku are kids however its not revealed how it's happened nor the consquences**  
>chinesemidget:<strong> HOI! HOI! Welcome and I'll do my best on the paragraph thingy but it looks so different on word.  
><strong>NewSlove:<strong> I had a feeling most people knew what's happened but how it's happened is another question**  
>Vermouth01:<strong>Mou, don't like cherries but I updated anyway!

**Reviewie please! Pretty please!**


	5. Chapter 5

Eiji had been forced into bed with hugs from a hesitant Oishi however the rest went quietly, apart from Tezuka, obviously Fuji hadn't got the five year old captain into bed, Kawamura and Fuji, who were all situated in the living room once again on one sofa. Leah had woken up by this time and was begging for attention, which the ten year old Kawamura was happily obliging to do so as he sat on the edge of the sofa. Oishi sat on the opposite facing sofa, his hands automatically going back to holding each other in an effort to hide his nervousness. He glanced down at them as he randomly clutched at it, not daring to glance up at the others as he started to speak.

"You disappeared, five years ago. I was arrested and accused of kidnapping you and there was even talk about a possible murder because of blood found at the scene. I was shunned at school, in the shops, around where I lived and even my own family didn't want to know me. I was kicked off the tennis team and at first my grades began to fall but after a small while I realised the only thing I could really do was study. I got the grades to get into one of the top high schools but I went to the one that was furthest away from my family and became a border at one. I passed High School in one year and applied to come to a university here in Scotland. I got in, passed and came out as a writer a year ago and bought here just before graduating. I've not talked to anyone for long periods of time in five years. I've been happy alone with my dog. Then you turn up on my doorstep claiming to be the very people who caused me to have such a mess in my life in the first place, the people who I've never stopped thinking about." Oishi said in a tensed voice, trying to keep back the sadness that he could feel creeping up. "You must understand, I've changed, I've had no one to support me, and I've been alone. No one would have cried over my death when I had thoughts of committing suicide. In the end I gathered no one would really miss me if I disappeared as well."

"Was changing really that hard Oishi?" Fuji spoke up from where he had been deathly quiet during Oishi's speech.

"But I suppose it's a good a thing you changed Oishi or we wouldn't have been able to survive out in the storm if someone wasn't living here." Kawamura perked up. Oishi looked over at the ten year old, thinking that it was true, but he hadn't thought of that as a positive.

"Will you listen to what we have to say?" Tezuka said, arms crossed, his ability to smile hadn't changed, it was still zilch, Oishi mused to himself as he nodded.

"It felt like a hundred years has gone Oishi." Fuji started, hesitant in his speech. "We've changed as well, not only in body form although that is the most obvious. You must not have been told or forgot, we were supposed to have a meeting in the clubroom after practice to talk about the invitation we got from the under-17 camp. Kaidoh accidently cut himself whilst we were having the meeting, quite badly which is probably the blood that was found. It's whilst we were treating it that someone locked the doors and windows and I think someone threw some gas in the room just before that because people started fainting. It got very dark."

"I was the first to wake up in what looked like a prison cell. We were all in separate cells, strong metal bared cells. They had us chained by the ankle, presumably to try and keep us apart." Kawamura supplied.

"They?" Oishi whispered more to himself.

"Echizen was the last one to wake up. He wasn't very impressed" Fuji said with a small laugh, a small smile gracing his lips, which Oishi thought looked slightly weird with his eyes open.

"Fuji," Tezuka warned from his corner of the sofa. Fuji was in the middle of the trio. Fuji nodded.

"It was a while before they changed us. At first it was just taking tests, blood samples etc. and then they started on trying out pain resistance levels on us, they used to torture us, and once they started…" Fuji trailed off, taking a breath to recompose himself as his voice had trembled towards the end. "They did that, one person every day. You could hear every word and scream from those cells. They used to hurt us when we spoke in Japanese as well. Then they took Momo one day, about a year after we were kidnapped we think, and came back with an unconscious three year old child in his place, wearing a white jumper and white trousers. First clean clothes we had seen for ages. They put him in Momo's cell but didn't chain him. When he woke up he claimed he was Momo, nobody really believed him until he started having an argument with Kaidoh. It was pretty hard not believe him after that." Oishi noticed as Fuji's hands clenched slightly.

"They did it one by one; they did it very quickly, sometimes they had a break of a few days before starting again." Kawamura started up as Fuji did not seem able to speak. "Momo first, then when they took Inui they brought him back a different age, about five we all guessed. Then Kaidoh went and they brought him back the same age as Momo. Then they took Tezuka and made him about two years old. Then Fuji and myself got changed into six year olds with Echizen being made into another two year old. We were all handicapped by the ages, for example Echizen and… Tezuka… were only just learning how to speak. Then they stopped after Echizen, we think it was because Inui suddenly got very ill, but that could have been because of malnutrition. They took Inui away for a few days before bringing him back much better but Eiji was still an adult." Fuji placed a hand over Kawamura's as the other boy's voice started to slip into a whisper, in a comforting move.

"Eiji looked after us," Tezuka said, seemingly he was going to continue but Fuji gave a giggle interrupting the five year old in his tracks and earning him a glare.

"And also somehow managed to Tezuka to call him Eiji" Fuji helpfully supplied.

"Because we were placed in the same cell and eventually moved to a different room with… a few shelves for beds and some blankets. It was another year before they took Eiji and changed him." Tezuka looked like he was going to carry on but Fuji beat him to it.

"Oishi, when they came back with Eiji he was barely nearing a year old. He couldn't walk or talk, although he made plenty of noise. More things started to happen after that, Momo and Echizen were suddenly really tired all the time, Inui kept on becoming ill with small things. Taka-san lost a lot of strength, Kaidoh kept on forgetting different small things. When we could we would talk about things at home, our families and you, Oishi. We talked about you a lot. We just tried to keep talking. Then they started the tests again, they were torturing us as children. Oishi, be careful with Eiji please." Fuji begged of the elder man.

"Why?" Oishi asked in surprise, concern filling him. He had begun to accept the idea that what they were saying was possibly true but didn't want to blurt that out loud with more proof.

"Because… they took him one day and when they came back a few days later, Eiji didn't make any type of noise again. He was covered in his own blood Oishi. They had whipped him almost to death. When he woke up, he was really scared of us. It took us, what felt like years, to make him trust us again. We were all surprised when he clung to you."

Oishi sighed and rubbed his forehead with the palms of his hands, trying to make heads and tails of this mess. It was almost driving him crazy trying to sort it in his head. Suddenly his lifestyle choice didn't seem so bad.

"Wait, so how did you escape then from 'them'? Whoever 'they' are?" Oishi realised looking back up from his knees which he had positioned himself in to rub his head.

"They were going to sell us." Fuji was now being hugged by Kawamura tightly as something had disturbed him talking about the memories, so Kawamura was carrying on. "They said to us, was that they had buyers and these buyers wanted us. We were blindfold, gagged and tied up. They put us in some sort of vehicle and then after a while put us on a boat where we were let free to wander apart from a few rooms and we were watched on deck. The men on the boat even let us look at our files once, the files in which they had our fake identity in it. So we were able to tell what age we were. There was a storm though, a very sudden bad storm. Like this one outside. Everyone was thrown overboard although Fuji and I were able to help the others. We managed to get to land and we spent a day or so in the cave before moving on. We were had gone a long way before we saw your house."

Oishi nodded, his house was a fair distance from the coast line, well over seventy-five miles. Although there were a few villages in between which were only noticeable if you came near them, it was possible to miss them completely. Oishi held up his hand as he stood up to think about what they were saying and turned his back to them. All of this was possible, some things seemed a bit farfetched but after tasting Inui's old juices and missing them, anything was possible. But, all this seemed too surreal.

"Why should I believe you? You could be kids making up a wild story," Oishi said turning around to look at the youngsters in front of him Fuji looked like he was about to protest but Tezuka held him back. "Why should I believe you? You have said nothing that would make me believe you are them and it's …" His rant was interrupted by the patter of a pair of feet as a small body launched its way past the sofa Tezuka, Fuji and Kawamura were sat on and tripped over the edge of the rug as small feet got tangled in the tassels. Oishi reacted automatically as he grabbed the child from falling on his face by bending down, only to be caught in a small pair of arms around his neck. He could feel wet marks falling against the bare skin of his neck. Before he knew what he was doing, he was stroking the back of Eiji's head, which lasted a fair few minutes in the startled silence of the room.

"Eiji?" Oishi asked after he finally realised he was getting uncomfortable in his current position. The red head nodded as Oishi detangled himself and was able to look at Eiji full on, holding the boy's arms either side of him firmly. "Eiji, you must realise this. I know it's been hard for you but I've not had an easy last few years either and it's going to take me a while to adjust to being around people or believing in them as well. You know how hard it is to trust people." Eiji nodded "well it's hard for me as well. So you're going to have to cope with me questioning some things. Doesn't mean I'm going to be horrible and tell you all to get out. You're going to live here, everyone. Okay?" Eiji had a smile spreading across his face as he nodded. "Just forgive me when I say things like that." Eiji launched himself back into Oishi's arms as Oishi picked up the four year old boy, looking at the others on the sofa. "Little boys need their bedtime." He said, and oh how it made him laugh inside when he saw the scowl on Tezuka's face.

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><p><strong>Mou ... been without power all day. My laptop nearly died on me whilst typing this up because the electricty had to go off for a service update<strong>

**GP-2011:** I must admit little regulars in my head is majorly cute but its the method use is not cute at all. 

**kitty723:**Of course I remember you! How could I forget?

**Review please**


	6. Chapter 6

Oishi clutched his head as he heard the onslaught of crashing noises from the house, as Momo and Kaidoh commenced in yet another fight. For one them having a lack of energy towards the end of the day it was a wonder why Momo didn't try and conserve it by not fighting but that was a wish too far it seemed. His house within the last three days had been turned from a lovely private solitary confinement to the complete opposite actually. He couldn't even let them play outside in the walled garden because the storm still raged strong. Oishi was hoping it would let up soon so he could and also phone the local doctor in town to have a look at the children and he could also concentrate on his story as he was attempting to do now. Another noise full of crashing and swearing made him wince, normally in the past before the kidnapping he would tell them off for doing such a thing and try and break them up. Now, he was scared of touching them, anyone of them, the feelings that they would break into a million pieces when he pick them up. He had no choice with Eiji; the little red head wouldn't wait for permission or even give some kind of warning.

Fingers hesitated over the keyboard as Oishi's thoughts stopped flowing when he could hear the squabbling ending, presumably by someone breaking them up. Giving a long sigh of relief, he returned to the characters in his book, thoughts reflowing through his head, giving him the ability to type another couple of sentences before Momo came running through the door of the study, closely followed by Leah and then finally followed by Kaidoh. A seemingly amused Fuji stood at the doorway, with a worried Kawamura supporting Inui whom was currently blowing his nose, and a still stoic faced Tezuka. Oishi would have chuckled had there not been the problem of he was trying to work at the same time as the golden retriever was barking out loud and there was shouting between the noisy duo in the middle of the room. Oishi clutched the left side of his head, drumming his right hand fingers against the desk hoping those in the room, or just standing outside of the room would take it as a sign that he wasn't in the mood, he hadn't been in the mood for the last couple of days anyway but he wasn't in the mood to deal with the quarrelling children called Momo and Kaidoh. Unfortunately for him, it seemed the others were more interested in just watching them rather than moving them to a different room of the house, there was more than just the study, or the other side of the house, somewhere he couldn't hear them. Or even breaking them up. It made Oishi wonder what they had been treated like in the previous few years and it also made him think of which he would have preferred. A seemingly total social exclusion from society or being changed into a child and tested on.

Sighing Oishi leant back in his black office chair, arms resting on the arm rests, and head leant back so he was watching the ceiling. He didn't need to see what was going on. He felt a hand gently being placed on his right knee and looked down to find out whom had placed it there. Blue blinking eyes looked up at him from underneath his desk, a plaster on his right cheek from where he had managed to cut himself by falling over, red hair as messy as always. Oishi could have almost mistaken the younger child as the full grown Eiji had it not been the lack of smile. Bending down, Oishi picked up the child from under his desk, wondering how he managed to get under there in the first place without him noticing. Sitting Eiji on his knee Oishi was now forced to watch the two in the middle, although it seemed that it wasn't going to last much longer. Fuji had moved in from the doorway and was forcefully making his way in between the two in which they moved back very quickly; too quickly and landed on the floor with quite a loud bump. However Fuji seemed quite satisfied in his handy work and walked over to one of the chairs firmly sitting it, rearranging the cushion behind him. The others took this as a queue to come and sit on the remaining chairs and sofas.

Momo and Kaidoh had been effectively distracted, their confused looks matching Oishi's as Eiji started to jump up and down on his knee, trying to stand up on it as well much to Oishi's alarm who quickly secured him. Within a couple of seconds Momo's and Kaidoh's confused look faded away to excitement .

"I would be a monkey!" Momo shouted jumping up from his position on the floor. Oishi was startled at the statement. "I would be a monkey because I would be able to climb to high places and chase Mamushi." Oishi's eyebrows rose at the last part, obviously the years hadn't made him forget the nickname he had for Kaidoh.

"I would be a snake because then I would be able to bite you and then I would be able to get away easily," Kaidoh hissed back standing up; Oishi could see another fight starting to occur.

"No you wouldn't! Because I would be able to catch up to you swinging on the vines!"

"Momo! Kaidoh! It's Inui's turn." Fuji scolded them, which caused them to wince and sit back down arms crossed but looking curiously at the once very tall data tennis player.

"I would be a whale because then I would be able to explore the deepest depths of the ocean and there would always be something new to explore. " Inui said pushing up his glasses and then turning his attention to Kawamura. By now Oishi had given up trying to guess what they were doing and was listening intently.

"I would be a bear so I could protect everyone," Kawamura said and Oishi smiled at how protective the ten year old sounded.

"I would be a cheetah because I would be better than anyone else and faster," Echizen said, seemingly quite proud of the fact that it was the fastest animal on the earth. Oishi didn't find this surprising.

"I would be a lion," Tezuka said, arms crossed, eyes looking through his glasses which if Oishi had the nerve would have said looked cute on the former captain.

"Why would that be Tezuka?" Fuji asked when the five year old seemingly refused to explain his decision. Tezuka sent a glare in Fuji's direction as he explained.

"Because a lion is in charge and can lead their pride in new directions." Fuji smiled and nodded his head.

"I think I would be a nightingale," Fuji started before being interrupted by Momo.

"Why?" He asked crawling up so he was besides Fuji's chair, which did involve going past Kaidoh, so Oishi was revealed when he managed to get past without any arguments. Fuji gave a brief smile at Momo who was resting his arms on one of the arm rests, head on his arms.

"Because a nightingale can comfort people with its song and presence," Fuji said reaching out with his left hand and stroking Momo's right side of his face.

"What animal would you be Oishi?" Oishi almost jumped out of his skin at the sudden question that had come out of Fuji's mouth as he had looked at the former vice-captain.

"Eh?" he asked confused as Eiji looked up at him with those blue eyes that often found their way around in the sweet thing cupboard, at least in the last three days anyway and with Oishi. He didn't know about the others.

"What animal would you be and why. It's something Eiji made up when we were small children to stop us bickering and make us start listening to one another, and generally to keep us together as a group. They would come and punish us if we were too loud." Oishi looked down at the small four year old who poked him in the chest, not hard but enough to make him wince. He sighed, thinking about it looking back up at the ceiling. What would he be if he was any animal he could choose to be?  
>"A horse," Oishi decided firmly, to which he was met with 'whys?' from some of the youngest and another poke from Eiji. "Why?" Oishi looked at the room. "Because a horse can run and never look back. Its loyalty is unquestionable but its own independence is established as a group and as an individual. It never has to worry about what's behind it, only what is going on around it and what's in the future." It was a cryptic answer but to Oishi it was everything he wished he could have been.<p>

"Okay," Fuji said, not giving any hint of confusion or worry in his voice. "Eiji?" he asked the youngest who had turned to look at him, still on Oishi's knee. Oishi looked down at the red head, expecting him to mick a movement of a cat with the claws. Sure enough his hands came but the thumbs wrapped together and with fingers spread he waved them open and shut, and moved his hands as far as he could reach with Oishi holding him down.

"A butterfly?" Fuji asked, to which Eiji nodded; jumping off Oishi's knee with some squirming and running out of the room, his hands far above his head fluttering open and shut. Momo, Kaidoh, Echizen and Kawamura followed as Eiji disappeared. Fuji watched them leave and gave a sigh. "I wish I could ask him why. Before he stopped talking he always said a cat, but now…" Looking at Oishi, "I don't understand why he says a butterfly, no one knows." Oishi nodded, it was the most unexpected answer from the once hyperactive acrobatic tennis player who was sometimes the complete opposite from a butterfly.

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><p><strong>Sorry about the wait, struggling with family life and I am about to go away on holiday. Chapters will come, please just bear with me.<strong>

**Darkbalsara:** Hoi Hoi! Welcome! Thank you!**  
>NewSlove:<strong> Oh the tenipuri family? Kaidoh and Eiji are adorable in those episodes!  
><strong>GP-2011:<strong> Its becoming a very fluffy story at the moment for angst story but there will be angst later. **  
>Vermouth01:<strong> Mou I want Eiji to give me hugs too!  
><strong>eijikikumarufan01:<strong> I hate it when it does that to me and I don't think it's Smith or Saotome, at least I don't think.  
><strong>ElementalCat:<strong> I hope you had fun with your holidays.  
><strong>Demoncat13:<strong>no this isn't related to 'the deadly feelings of tennis' Different time scale

**Reviewies please! And cope with me please!  
>oh you also need to tell me, which Seigaku character you want to have a focus on for the next chapter (the expection is Eiji)<br>**


	7. Chapter 7

Kaidoh peeked around the door, looking both ways for a certain ruffian. He didn't want Momo to notice what he was holding in his right hand. After fighting with Momo again yesterday, Oishi had brought Kaidoh to a room stuffed high with gifts out of desperation it seemed to keep them from fighting today. He had told Kaidoh that he had been given hundreds of small cuddly toys and cards from fans whom loved his book and then turned around and left, giving the seven year old boy privacy whilst he was choosing a fluff toy. The room, Kaidoh had also noticed was on the other side of the house to where the fight had taken place and therefore probably on the other side of the house to Momo. The fighting had only recently been taken back up; when they had seen Oishi it was almost like his presence was what allowed for him and Momo to start fighting again however much it visibly drove Oishi up the wall. Looking once again he eased out of the door and slithered down the hallway as quietly as possible, making his way down the stairs. As he reached the hallway, he heard Momo quietly clearly talking to Echizen, unfortunately for Kaidoh; it seemed in the big spaced stone hallway that Momo was coming this way. There was a lot of 'Mada Mada Dane' and Momo complaining back at the other boy, moaning about some game he wanted to play with Echizen but it seemed Echizen didn't want to play. However Kaidoh wasn't going to stay around for long and quickly slipped inside the nearest room, sliding the door back with a clunk. He watched the door for what like ages before a voice interrupted his silence.

"You're not going to start fighting again are you?" Kaidoh jumped, startled by the sudden noise and clutched the green long fluffy snake to his chest and turned to notice Oishi was sitting at his desk. Giving a sigh of relief, he took a few seconds to take in that he had actually slinked into the study. It had become almost a common place for everyone to go, as it was where Oishi was most of the time and as the only adult, the elder aged former regulars liked to talk to him as an adult and the younger because he was the only one that would seemingly listen to them talk about things that they had already told the others a million and one times. Momo more precisely. Eiji just liked being around Oishi, Kaidoh noted as he saw a tuff of red hair peeking out from behind the desk. Just a bit, but it was enough to indicate that Eiji was under the desk, probably with the dog, playing.

Kaidoh shook his head to Oishi's question, lowering the snake from his chest still clutching it tight in his hands. He wasn't going to fight with Momo unless the ruffian decided he was going to suddenly tell Oishi about the huge spider in his room that kept him awake at night and was threatening to eat him unless Momo ate the chocolate cookies; which had amused Kaidoh as he watched Momo being told off by Oishi for trying to place the blame elsewhere. Secretly he knew that Momo hated spiders, it was something Kaidoh had presumed he had told no one but he had found out from a reaction in those cells one day after Momo and himself had been changed. Thus since then Kaidoh had removed the spiders from Momo's sight when Momo had noticed them. Still didn't give the ruffian an excuse to pinch the chocolate cookies.

"That's good," Oishi said leaning back against his chair and looking at his screen. Kaidoh frowned walking around, keeping an eye on Eiji encase the red head decided he was going to jump out at him. So it did annoy and relieve him when he realised that Eiji was asleep under the desk, the dog was lying on top of him, snoring her head off. Eiji had collapsed on top of her, and was buried in the golden fur. Oishi sent a glance down at Kaidoh before looking back at his screen. Moving the snake back to his left hand, Kaidoh peered at the screen looking at the weird characters formation before him.

He suddenly felt Oishi's gaze on him rapidly after he had stood there for several minutes not understand anything on the page in front of him. He slowly backed away from the computer looking straight back at the elder boy, trying to challenge him. Kaidoh lost and looked away, in the opposite direction of the computer.

"Kaidoh, what did you read whilst you were imprisoned?" Oishi asked, arms crossed.

"We weren't allowed things to read."

"Did they teach you anything?"

"Only that we were supposed to be quiet and do what they said." Kaidoh answered, looking back at Oishi's eyes. He could see that the older boy only knew a few brief details of their capture.

"So," Oishi waved his hand at the screen, "these words. You don't understand them." Kaidoh nodded his head, not understanding where Oishi was taking this. "Even though they are both a mix of Kanji and English." Kaidoh nodded his head again.

"When we were turned Oishi sempai, all of us lost all the lessons we had been taught in school." Kaidoh explained as Oishi bit his lip turning back to his screen and moving things quickly with his mouse and typing quickly on the keyboard. Kaidoh frowned as he walked his way back up to the screen, watching pictures flash before his eyes. He caught Oishi's right hand as it reached for the phone.

"Oishi sempai," Kaidoh trailed off, getting a feeling of dread. Oishi looked back at Kaidoh briefly.

"You're going to school Kaidoh, all of you. It'll only be a matter of time before social services comes around."

"Even Eiji?" Kaidoh asked looking down at the red head who moved over in his sleep, praying that …

"Yes, even Eiji." With that final word Oishi picked up the phone. Kaidoh looked up at the elder, a look of horror briefly passing his face. Oishi didn't know how much of a bad idea that was.

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><p><strong>Going on holiday soon! So no updates for a while. Nya! Bye bye for now! Majority of people said Kaidoh, so I went Kaidoh, which was hard for me.<strong>

**ElementalCat:** Yes it does have some deeper meaning. But thank you! Yes I do well in angst for some reason  
><strong>eijikikumarufan01:<strong> Thanks for pointing out that mistake, its changed now. Haha, the mystery of the butterfly. I won't tell you what that means in this chapter for certain.  
><strong>MoonLuna2009:<strong> Hoi hoi! Welcome back! I had a difficult time choosing Fuji's animal.  
><strong>Vermouth01:<strong> Make sure you update! I want to come back to several chapters from you!  
><strong>GP-2011:<strong> I went with Kaidoh! I hope it was okay  
><strong>demoncat13:<strong> That is a cute image and no I am not trying to make you turn evil demon just yet. Maybe later

**Reviewies please! Pretty please! End my holiday on a review! For now Ja ne!**


	8. Chapter 8

Oishi had figured from that from the alarm in the morning until 9am that day he would be suffering in hell. The schools had only started back in Scotland a few weeks ago so timing wise it was prefect. Convincing some of the younger ones that school was the best option on the other hand was not so prefect. Momo had picked up a fuss very quickly after getting over the apparent shock when Oishi had mentioned it. Echizen quickly reverted to saying 'Mada mada dane' to the ruffian a lot, which didn't help one bit as Kaidoh had also decided he was going to hiss at Momo, causing yet another argument.

Oishi would have liked to have retreated to his study at this point, but the argument had been taking place in the study and even if it hadn't it probably would have still found its own way there. Others had refused to comment, Fuji taking the pose of glaring down Oishi from the other side of the room, Tezuka had been throwing random looks at the rest of the group, most of whom were calming down. Inui and Kawamura had turned around and left the room after the announcement. Eiji had clung to his leg. From the reactions he received, Oishi had a strange feeling that none of them wanted to go to school.

Fuji, Kawamura, Inui and Tezuka had been easiest to convenience to get themselves dressed, Tezuka and Fuji only threw death glares, which according to Oishi actually looked very cute coming from a ten year old and a five year old. Surprisingly Kaidoh hadn't picked up a fuss at first, until Momo had started provoking him from the door of Kaidoh's room, from which it had been a very interesting challenge until Oishi had told Momo that he was going to be next in getting dressed in the school uniform provided.

Oishi looked at the time on the clock in Kaidoh's and Echizen's room, as the seven year old disappeared quickly out of sight. The hands pointed to 7:35, which gave him just under an hour to get Echizen and Momo into the uniform and get them down to the school. Eiji was already in something suitable for nursery. Oishi sighed and closed his eyes, wondering how everything managed to get up to this point. Where he had to look after his former team mates in childlike forms. Looking down at the two sets of school uniform, he held up the navy blue jumper with the junior school badge embedded into it which would slip on over a white t-shirt, again with the school badge on it, and black trousers on the bottom.

"Your three sisters had children and then they couldn't look after them due to illness," Oishi told himself, running through his story once again which he now had to stick to. "So they brought them here and left them here with you because they didn't want to pass on the illness to the children and gone to live back in Japan for treatment. " Oishi stopped himself midway, biting his lip, wondering if this was a lie too big for him. "How is anyone going to believe me? They've barely seen me at all."

Oishi frowned when he felt a tugging on a set of uniform, which had been folded on his arm. He saw a glimpse of short black hair before all the uniform fell on top of the small individual. There was a snickering at the door.

"Mada mada dane, Oishi sempai," came the voice whom untangled himself from the school uniform. Oishi could only blink as Echizen pulled one set of uniform out from the mess, the slightly smaller of the two. "Is this one mine?" Echizen asked looking up at the older man. Oishi briefly thought to himself that Echizen had never been so small, he was really an 'ochibi' now.

Glancing at the door, Oishi saw Momo snickering away, one hand on his mouth to try and conceal it. With reflexes he thought he had lost with the move to Scotland, he darted out and grabbed Momo firmly by the waist. The snickering quickly stopped and soon a temper tantrum emerged, legs were kicking and arms were moving all over the place. It was Echizen's turn to snicker as he pulled off his pyjamas and replaced it with underwear and school uniform.

"Put me down Oishi sempai!" Momo cried as Oishi stood there tight lipped, and trying to figure out why he didn't just do that when Momo and Kaidoh started bickering. Oishi strode over to the one uniform that was left; Momo still tucked under one arm. He picked up it with ease and walked to the door. Momo still wailing to be put down.

"I'll see you downstairs Echizen," Oishi said closing the door and walking down to Momo's and Tezuka's room, which was a few doors down the stone corridor, tall windows let light in on one side in the morning, and the bedrooms were on the other side of the corridor.

"Put me down Oishi sempai!" Momo cried again, Oishi noticed the kicking was getting lighter.

"You'll only wear yourself out Momo," Oishi replied as he opened the door and walked in, quite skilfully. "Your seven, you don't have much energy. Even the doctor said you will have to conserve your energy more than others. You and Echizen. I'm also much bigger than you and I am telling you, you need to go to school." Oishi set Momo down as the kicking finally stopped and lay the uniform on the bed before standing at the door to stop any attempts at escaping. He watched Momo move sluggishly around the room, not very keen to get dressed.

Leaning his head, Oishi stared at the ceiling head, leaning against the wooden door, trying to work out how long it would take Momo to get dressed, so far it seemed like it was going to last all day if Momo's behaviour carried on. It was as he was trying to work out how to make Momo dress more quickly that the seven year old suddenly said a surprising thing.

"Oishi sempai. Sorry," it was said in such a soft tender tone that it brought Oishi's gaze down from the ceiling and he stared at the small child. Momo carried on getting dressed whilst speaking, not realising the elder was staring at him. "Fuji used to say to us all the time, well to begin with before the torture, that we should say sorry when we next saw you. He said that you were probably worrying about us and you had a big fight with us before we were kidnapped. I think he said it to keep our mind off what was going on at the time but it worked." Momo looked up at Oishi as he pulled on the jumper over his head, getting stuck part way. Oishi gave a small smile and walked over, helping to pull the jumper down over Momo's head.

"Different from the Japanese uniform isn't it?" he said smiling at Momo, whom gave a firm nod.

Momo had seemed to accept the fact he was going to school whether he wanted to or not. Oishi held out his right hand and Momo took it firmly. As they were walking down the corridor, towards the stairs which would take them down to the main entrance, Oishi spoke quietly to the youngster.

"Momo?" the spikey haired boy looked up at Oishi and for a moment, he saw the older mature Momo which barely came out. "Sorry."

"Eh? Why are you apologizing?" Momo questioned.

"I made you worry. I made you all worry." Oishi stopped briefly in his tracks, collecting his thoughts before starting again, like he had been about to say something and thought better of it. Momo shrugged as he bounced along, using energy which he shouldn't have and if Oishi had the heart at that moment, which he didn't, he would have told Momo to stop.

It was a relief to find everyone in the entrance hall, waiting for Oishi and Momo to appear, all ready with bags in hand. It wouldn't have surprised him if Fuji had been the reason why they were all holding their bags. Momo scampered from his reach and grabbed the spare bag from side cabinet where Oishi had put them when he had gone to enrol everyone and buy the necessary items. Oishi took that brief few seconds to look at everyone. Tezuka was standing independently from the rest, arms crossed, sending side long glares at Oishi, which had been older would have made anyone shiver in fear. Fuji was holding Eiji's hand, whom was swinging on Fuji's left arm like it was a piece of rope. Kawamura was standing next to Inui, a protective gesture. Echizen had somehow managed to find a cap, somehow. It was going to be a challenge to get it off him when he got to school. Momo and Kaidoh were hissing at each other. Oishi took that as a cue to stand in between them and take both of their hands firmly, hopefully deterring any bickering. He glanced at the clock one more time. 8:05. That gave him enough time to take everyone to school without problem. Eiji's nursery would let him drop off the red head at any time. With that in mind Oishi promptly walked out of the house, skilfully locking it behind him without letting Momo and Kaidoh bicker.

**POT**

Oishi dropped in his office seat, glancing at the time on his watch. 10:00. He gave a long moan, he had suspected that it would take him no more than an hour to do everything. He planned to make that shorter tomorrow. Sitting there, with his eyes closed, Oishi remembered Momo's words earlier and to the air above him spoke the words which he had nearly said in the corridor.

"Was I really worth worrying about that much?" Of course he received no answer, apart from Leah's 'welcome home' barking. He looked at his computer, deciding that he really needed to get some work done today whilst everyone was out. He bit his lip as he gave a small chuckle. Leah placed her head in his lap and he stroked it. "So I did have someone out there who cared for me after all."

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><p><strong>I'M BACK! I finally got Kamen Rider ideas out of my head! (now I got super sentai  tyoko ghost trip ideas in my head! GAH HELP ME!) BUT I'M BACK! I will not do any other stories until this one is finished ... unless one really really bugs me and I mean that Kamen Rider one would not leave me alone! **  
><strong>Anyone miss me?<strong>


	9. Chapter 9

Inui stood at the front of the class looking at the rest of them. He was the only one in this year group, year 5. Fuji and Kawamura were in the year above him, Kaidoh and Momo two years below him and Echizen and Tezuka two years below that. Inui reasoned to himself that this was the feeling of being at an age, where everything around you was either fascinating or just not worth paying attention to, which was why everyone was staring. Obviously the fact that there was a new kid in the class was something worth looking at.

It didn't make Inui feel uncomfortable at first, reasoning with himself that they were just children. He had studied children's behaviour before. His mother had been a teacher herself, he didn't know if she was anymore. He quickly stopped himself going down that track by looking up at the female teacher in charge of the class he was in. Mrs Harrison if he remembered correctly. She was tall from his angle, long brown hair tied back in a low ponytail, dark eyes and so far she had not stopped smiling.

"Everyone!" She called out because although the class were staring at him, they were also making a ruckus at the same time. "Settle down!" Almost immediately there was a silent hush. It amazed Inui to see everyone quieten. He had always been told to be quiet by 'them', just silent whispers at night when the group thought 'they' weren't listening. "Now good morning everybody."

"Good morning Mrs Harrison," the class chanted back. Inui caught on to the carefree tone which everyone took. Did he, at one stage, speak in what seemed an easy way? It was hard to believe it.

"Now, today we have a new student. His name is Sadaharu Inui Oishi. I want you to take special care of him okay?" She said, laying a hand on Inui's right shoulder. Inui blinked at the last name, recovering quickly, Oishi? Thinking it through Inui came to an answer quickly. It was probably because it would back up the story of Oishi having three sisters whom had left everyone in Oishi's care.

"Okay!"

"Sadaharu, there's a seat on the table by the window," Mrs Harrison said pointing it out to the boy. By the window was a table set up to seat six people, five of the chairs were already occupied by two girls and three boys. Inui estimated there were about thirty people in the class altogether.

Making his way over there he heard the whispers from other kids, Inui counted a period of five seconds before the groups of children turned away back to the things that were on the table in front of them. Quietly he sat at the table, resisting the urge to bow to the rest of the children on the table. Not that they would have noticed as they were more concentrating on Mrs Harrison.

"Now, children, the first lesson today is art. I believe I asked you to bring something that meant something to you today, did you all bring it?" Almost like the teacher had fired the starting pistol, the children brought out from underneath the desk various objects ranging from toys to small decorative pieces. "Amy would you mind sharing with Sadaharu?" Inui looked at the little girl on his right, with dark ginger hair and a wide smile, whom nodded eagerly, placing her black and fluffy toy cat in the middle of the table between Inui and herself.

For Inui it didn't feel like the most productive of first lessons, and it didn't help that drawing wasn't his strong point. The ever uncomfortable feeling of a girl sitting next to him and bending over to reach the paint wasn't a great help either. A break happened after an hour, but he sat it alone as the school had different morning break times for each year. He felt that if he had joined in, that there was a 96 percentage chance that he would end up being the looser in many of the other children's games. The lesson afterwards, Mathematics, he felt ran more smoothly for him. It had felt like he had clicked back into when he was much older, the numbers made more sense to him and in a way, comforted him. Numbers always had comforted him. They couldn't be anything else. And they couldn't hurt him.

It was the lunch break when he next saw the others, excluding Eiji whom was in nursery on a different site. They had eaten lunch in their classrooms as was the school rule but it allowed for any time after that until the bell rang for the afternoon to run around and play. As Inui made his way outside, he had noticed that Momo was talking at speed about the lessons he had been given this morning. Kaidoh was hissing at him that all Momo had done in one of their lessons, music, was bang a drum about wildly. It seemed however that Momo had not heard as he continued his conversation to Echizen.

"Sadaharu!" Inui looked over at the person who had called his name, Fuji, who was waving at him to come over. It made perfect alignment in his data that Fuji would remember the fact they had to call each other by their first names.

"Shusuke," Inui replied, giving a slight nod of his head as he sat in between the honey haired boy and Tezuka, who was watching Momo and Kaidoh getting into a small bickering in front of him, with his arms crossed. An amusing sight for a 5 year old.

"Did you eat enough at lunch?" Kawamura asked as he tried breaking up the duo, by standing in the space between them. Inui nodded.

"It was delicious! I've never seen so much stuff for a lunch before!" Momo said looking up to the sky, 'there was a 78 per cent chance that he was imagining more food from the shape of the clouds', Inui thought to himself.

"He wasn't asking you baka," Kaidoh replied.

"Who was talking to you Mamushi?" Momo said turning his head and looking at Kaidoh again. Kawamura swiftly moved to block Momo's sight.

"Are you feeling alright? You don't feel sick at all?" Fuji asked, placing the back of his pale, thin hand on Inui's forehead.

"There's a 98 per cent chance I won't get sick today," Inui answered.

"Mada mada dane there's a 2 per cent chance," Echizen called from his sitting place on the ground. They were in a small corner of the playground.

"Saa be careful Sadaharu," Fuji nodded in agreement, his blue crystal coloured eyes open as he spoke emphasising each word carefully. Had it been five years ago, Inui would have found this expression opposing and some could even call it scary. Now it was seen by all of the group, as comfort from an older brother, combined with fierce protectiveness. In some ways Fuji had taken on the role that Eiji had previously held before becoming a young child.

Unfortunately for Inui, the data was not on his side. The weather turned from the warm day it had been, which was surprising for a September day, turned to a greyish murky colour within an hour after the lunch break had finished. Warm temperatures with warm winds, turned the opposite. The windows rattled after Mrs Harrison closed them and Inui felt the effects almost straight away. It started out with the shivers, crawling up from the hand, unable to grip the pen firmly in his right hand; it took the whole body within minutes to start shivering as well. Then the heavy coughing started, the heaving of feeling like your lungs were being ripped out of your chest and pulled back in again. Your throat turning raw as you felt like you coughed away the flesh inside. The wrenching feeling of something coming up but just wouldn't reach there in that cough and slide back down, only to start again within seconds. The dizziness, lack of focus, and light headiness which had made the girl, Amy, next to him, shout with alarm. How could you tell when nothing would stay in place? It resulted in him being sent to the school reception.

The doctor had said when he had come at Oishi's request, that Inui had a weak immune system, probably from the malnutrition. Oishi had come up with some story that had protected the group from having to tell the doctor why they were so thin, pale, weak and had multiple wounds across their body. The list had been endless. Watching Oishi came through the door holding Eiji's right hand, Inui gave a small smile through the now weak coughing. He had predicted that today would stay warm and fine this week, with a 3 per cent chance of the weather turning. An even smaller chance of it happening on the first day to school, being only 0.5 per cent. He was weakly aware of Oishi sitting down next to him, rubbing his back gently in circles, asking him some question which he couldn't hear very well over the receptionists trying to talk to Oishi as well. It took Inui a record time of 0.03 seconds to realise that something had caused him to miscalculate in his data.

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><p><strong>Gomen! Mum's a slave master, literally. My shoulder is killing me doing this.<strong>  
><strong>I hope this is okay, it's from Inui's point of view and I'm not very good with Inui ... nor Echizen, nor Kaidoh, nor Tezuka, a bit better with Kawamura<strong>


	10. Chapter 10

Oishi sat the desk looking at the paperwork to the side of him. The household was quiet, unusually quiet which should have meant that he could work in peace and get something more than he normally did. It wasn't like the rest of the group were at school; they were all home and getting close to bedtime. Normally Oishi would be hearing thundering footsteps bouncing up and down as some of the children, not all, would run down the hallways to escape getting changed. Instead it seemed tonight they were going quietly, as they had been for the last couple of nights. Oishi had forgotten the days when he was still a regular on the tennis team when someone was missing how everyone would be concerned for the said member.

Oishi had been called in to the primary school to collect Inui, after collecting Eiji on the way and since that time, the former data tennis player had been in bed, seriously ill. Inui had caught a bad fever, after one day at school. Which, Oishi reminded himself, hadn't even been a full day. He had collected the rest of the group at the end of the school day and it hadn't taken long for the rest of them to catch on, after Oishi had told them that Inui was at home, with a doctor for company. For some reason it had seemed a very long walk home. He had found himself missing the chatter from the rest of the group, Momo and Kaidoh bickering over something trivial. The only noise that had remained was the wind whistling over the heathery moors, passing swiftly through the trees, a soft wailing sound.

Looking at the papers to the side of him again Oishi gave a long sigh. They were papers he had to fill in before Inui went back to school, after he recovered. They would allow for the doctor to be called straight from the school and allowed to administer any emergency treatment needed. There were several pages worth of reading and signing to do.

"None of us escaped from 'them' without some type of injury," Fuji piped up from the doorway, standing in his purple, red and white checker pyjamas, complete with white fluffy slippers. Echizen had made a comment of Oishi's choice of clothing when he had seen the collection along the lines of 'his fashion sense had gone down the drain.' Oishi had only reasoned that he had been alone for so long that he didn't need to worry about what colours and clothing he wore through the day.

"What injury did you come out with then?" he replied, watching as the ten year old went and sat down in front of the fire, stroking Leah's long golden hair, who was asleep at this point.

"Inui and Taka-san probably are the most noticeable. We thought at one time that we had nearly lost Inui, he wasn't visibly breathing and we couldn't find a pulse. He woke up only moments later but none of us have been able to say what was wrong with him in those few seconds," Fuji didn't look at the elder as he lay his head down on Leah's chest, looking the opposite way to Oishi.

"You told me that 'they', whoever 'they' are, had panicked."

"We think they panicked, we don't know for sure," Fuji turned his head towards him, and he was shocked to see the underlying tears watering up at the bottom of Fuji's blue eyes.

Pushing back against the desk, Oishi swiftly paced over to the rug, kneeling down, pulled Fuji on to his lap, arms placed firmly around him. It alarmed him even more when the tensai didn't try to push away but wrapped his own arms around Oishi's chest as far as they would go.

"We don't know anything at all. We don't know what happened or why they did this or how they knew us," Fuji buried his head into Oishi's chest, whom held him tighter. "Everything went wrong; we were left in the dark. It hurt Oishi. Everything hurt." All Oishi could do was rock the boy backwards and forwards in an attempt to calm him, his blue shirt was gaining a large damp patch.

"It still hurts. Doesn't it?" Oishi asked after a while in the silence of the crackling fire and the howling wind around the house.

"Saa, Oishi. Do you know Yuuta's doing?" Oishi picked up on the fact that once again Fuji had avoided his question, leading him to think of what scar or injury the honey coloured haired boy had come out with.

"Last time I saw him …" He stopped to think on how to phrase his sentence, "Last time I saw him Yuuta was only thinking of you."

"He accused you of kidnapping us," came the sniffled, and muffled, voice from below. "Didn't he?" Oishi gave a long sigh, trying not to think of the accusations.

"He wasn't the only one. Kaidoh's brother, Momo's sister, Echizen's cousin. Eiji's family." Oishi added softly. 'My family' he added in his head but he daren't say it out loud.

"Oishi…"  
>"Don't start Fuji. I learned to cope with it.<p>

"By isolating yourself?" Oishi looked away from where a small tear stained face looked up at him. He had no come back to that statement. It was an awkward couple of moments before he felt Fuji snuggle back into him again.  
>"Saa. Your warm," came the contented voice.<p>

Oishi could only give a small smile as he stayed in the same position until he was sure the youngster had fallen to sleep, not wanting to bring on another episode of what sounded liked near panic. It scared him to be honest; he had never thought he would hear Fuji on the state of panic and never with something like this. He gently lifted Fuji up in his arms, scooping his left arm under Fuji's knees and the right supported the back and kept the boy close. It wasn't the easiest of walks up the stairs and down the hallways but it could have been made worse if Fuji was heavy, Oishi mused as he noted the lights were off down the hallway and doors closed which indicated the rest were asleep as well.

Opening the door to Fuji's room with some difficultly, Oishi lay him on his bed, pushing back the duvet, removing the slippers and covering him. He watched as Fuji tossed to his left, facing the wall, his right hand now accompanied his on the pillow. Oishi made note that in a way the rest of the former regulars had been forced to grow up, even though their bodies had done the opposite, in almost the same harsh way he had as well. The only difference was he had grown taller and the rest considerably shorter. Thinking back to Fuji's words, of injuries it fitted with some things he had seen. Kaidoh's insecurity was one that Oishi had noted was something that had changed in him, he was certainly a lot less secure about himself.

Backing out of the room, softly closing the door behind him, Oishi turned to go towards Inui's room, deciding it was time to check on the former data tennis player. The nightlight he had bought lit the hallway a green colour and it enough for him to see where he was going and miss all the tennis balls that were lying about. Echizen and Momo probably had something to do with that and he would discuss that with them in the morning. Opening Inui's door, he stepped into the dark room, walking over to the side table, switched on the bedside light.

The damp cloth which had been placed on Inui's forehead had been shaken off in the course of the couple of hours that it had been there. Oishi picked up the digital thermometer and unbuttoning part way down Inui's pyjama shirt, placed it under his left arm, watching the numbers scoot up and down before settling on a number. Oishi gave a small nod to himself, deciding that Inui was certainly on the road to getting better before replacing it by the bed side and re-buttoning the pyjama shirt. He removed the cloth and placed that to the side as well. It was no longer needed. Oishi looked at the pale boy, dark bags formed under his eyes, face was thin and cheeks caved in. After Inui woke up he would be required to eat quite a bit to get some resistance to illnesses back. All of the regulars, apart from Oishi, were still drastically underweight and for Inui it wouldn't fare well until he managed to get some more weight back on.

"So this is your injury," Oishi muttered to himself, pulling the duvet, which had been thrown about, presumably whilst Inui unconsciously battled the fever, back over the boy before turning the light off and leaving the room. Fuji's words still played on his mind.

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><p><strong>AND SHE FINALLY ESCAPES LONG ENOUGH TO UPDATE! Gomen nasai, my mum is killing me at the moment ...I'm strimming a 34 acre garden full of long grass. One strimmer, one person (me) and lots and lots of grass = OUCH! (my shoulder kills :( ... )**

**Reviewie please**


	11. Chapter 11

Fuji awoke to the darkness of his room; last thing he remembered was talking to Oishi …and crying … which meant that Oishi had brought him to his room last night. Rubbing at his eyes he gathered he had gone to sleep crying because they felt red raw. He sat up to see if anyone else was in the room, sunlight was streaming under the door and the clock flashed at him, in its bright red lights, 9am. It was a Saturday, so sleeping in wasn't anything to worry about. With a long sigh Fuji fell back against the bed, trying to recall what he had exactly said to Oishi the night before.

Words flowed through his head as he tried to pick out what had been said and what hadn't. After what seemed a few minutes he finally managed to remember. For some reason his memory didn't want to work that morning. He knew for certain however that he hadn't revealed all that Oishi might have hoped he would have revealed. Slowly the door to the hallway opened a slat before shutting again with a soft wheeze of air. A padding of a small pair of feet made its way across his room, standing at the edge of the bed. Turning his head, Fuji saw a pair of blue eyes stare back at him. Giving a small smile, Fuji lifted Eiji into his bed, in between him and the wall. He sat up slowly and looked at the youngster.

"Is Inui any better Eiji?" The red nodded his head enthusiastically. Fuji poked him in the stomach before taking it a step further and proceeding to thoroughly tickling the boy. The 4 year old squirmed in silent laughter with attempts to get away from the moving hands and succeed when he managed to crawl away and out of the room.

Fuji laughed as he threw back the covers and slipped on the slippers at the side of his bed, walking out of the dark room. He would draw the curtains back later, if he hadn't gone back to bed. He could feel tiredness creeping up on him once again as he suddenly clutched against the doorframe. Briefly he wondered if he caught the same thing that Inui had and quickly dismissed it. Inui's situation was something totally different to his. Quickly checking that no one else saw the little moment where he collapsed, he closed the door and walked quickly down the hallway, away from his room. If he could get away from that area if anyone had seen he could somehow twist the truth to deny any fact of it happening. Everyone, including Oishi, was worried about Inui. They needed no more worries than they already had.

Tezuka, Kaidoh, Kawamura, Echizen and Oishi were in the kitchen when Fuji entered, sat around the light wooden table that was at the other half of the kitchen. Various cereals were in the middle of the table, and the four were sat around on simple light wood chairs designed to go with the table. Leah was sniffing around underneath the table, looking for any droppings of food. This meant Momo hadn't gotten out of bed yet and Eiji had disappeared from when he had left Fuji's room. The kitchen had a grey stone floor, dark wood cabinets and a black marble top. A white aga range sat where the large fireplace would have been once and there was a built in fridge and freezer hidden by cabinet doors. An island stood in the middle accompanied with a grey metal sink. Also hidden by the cabinet doors was a dishwasher and rubbish bin.

Fuji stood at the doorway watching the group as Oishi tried to convince Echizen that the simple breakfast was good for him and needed to be eaten and it didn't matter if it was Western and not Japanese. Fuji presumed that he was coming into the end of the conversation, or more accurately an argument, because within a minute of him entering the kitchen it was ended with Tezuka saying "Echizen eat it," and a loud grumble could be heard very clearly, which quickly earned a glare from the former buchou.

"Fuji," startled for a second, Fuji quickly looked at who had spoken, giving him a few seconds to recompose himself. Oishi was looking down on him, with what Fuji thought was a very good mask; the elder man's face was devoid of any emotion. The only way he saw past the mask was the fact that Oishi spoke with the same soft tone that had once been contantly assoicated with someone being hurt in the Seigaku tennis club. That very same club that Oishi had cared so much about and the very same one that he had been forced to leave because of them. Fuji gave a smile in reply to Oishi; he knew the elder man was worried about what had happened the night before.

"Saa Oishi, Echizen is about to throw his breakfast away," he cheerfully said. A flash of alarm quickly passed over Oishi's face as he turned and sure enough Echizen was stood next to the bin, lid open, staring at Fuji, his eyes showing the clear shock of being betrayed, hand ready to use the spoon to scoop the barely eaten cereal into the bin. A look of alarm flashed across Oishi's face, but had Fuji not been watching carefully he wouldn't have seen it.

Chaos broke out from there, with Oishi striding over to once again convince Echizen that he needed food, using the argument that they were still far too thin and alarmingly underweight. Fuji only had to look down at himself to know that was true. Suddenly he was being pushed from behind and then out of the way by a red head dragging a certain dark haired and purple eyed sleepy Momo to the table by his right hand. Momo was still yawning whilst trying to make the point that he didn't need dragging and he was awake now, although Fuji highly doubted that he was fully awake.

To avoid being dragged to the table as well by Eiji, Fuji decided to make his way over to the other side of the room. Outside he could hear the wind wailing and the rain pelting against the glass. A very different scenario to what he had woken up to 20 minutes ago, Fuji noted as he glanced at the clock. He kept the smile on his face, even as he wished Inui could join them. As he reached out to grab a bowl, spoon and a cereal he could eat without feeling ill (a side effect he had hidden, everyone else had too much on their plate as it was). His mind was brought back to the statement that he had declared to Oishi last night, that everyone had scars. Fuji was determined not to tell anyone what his own was. It would only bring trouble and they had enough as it was, although there was a steady climb out of it now emerging.

Fuji glanced over at Tezuka, flashing that concealing smile at him as well, however the captain was too focused on how Oishi was progressing at standing over Echizen, making the five year old eat. Fuji knew what his scar was, and it scared him slightly to say the least. Tezuka's scar was the fact he felt he was unable to give orders and carry through with them effectively, that all loss of power was stripped away from him. He had confined that with Fuji one night, when they were all children, in the dark cell within the confinements of wherever they had been. So although it may have been sounding normal to everyone else for Tezuka to give orders, Fuji knew the fear that came with giving them and even Echizen's small rebellion earlier would have added to that fear.

Fuji watched as Momo grabbed at the cereal he most favoured as Eiji clambered up onto the chair adjusted with a seat on top for his height. Fuji slowly began to eat at the cereal now going soggy in his blue and white Spode bowl. He frowned only slightly as the spoon felt heavier than it did a moment ago but quickly wiped it from his face dismissing it quickly. Echizen finally managed to finish his own breakfast and joined the others who had finished of putting their bowls on the marble top which was situated over the dishwasher.

"Inui is getting better," Oishi called out before everyone left the room. "The doctor says a few more days of rest and he can come back to you at school but I need to tell …" At this Fuji's hearing started to go, his eyes dropping.

He thought he heard the dog barking and someone calling his name. He knew he had fallen from his chair but held no memory of it. He just knew that blackness had swallowed the rest of his senses.

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><p><strong>Sorry this took so long but I am back at uni now. (6am starts three days on the trot) Hopefully I can get the next chapter out soon but I will get it out.<strong> **Just wait for me**


	12. Chapter 12

Oishi ran his hand through his short hair; he had lost the look which he had throughout his childhood only two weeks after the incident. After Fuji had collapsed in the kitchen, hell had broken lose to say the least. No one had noticed to begin with, not for the first few seconds. All Oishi had heard was a thud, only to see Fuji missing from the table. Tezuka had been the first one to take action, Momo, Eiji, and Kawamura panicked, Leah had got overexcited and the rest just stared at Fuji's unmoving form. After he hadn't woken up after a few minutes Oishi removed everyone, including Tezuka (much to his dislike) and told Kawamura to watch them.

It had been whilst calling the doctor that Fuji had aroused from his unconscious state and enabled Oishi to move him back to his bedroom. Fuji had aroused only for a few seconds before falling asleep again but it had been a relief Oishi needed. After the doctor had arrived, he had been shooed out of the bedroom and back down the stairs to the study where the others had gone to. He had been met with a deathly silence; the only noise was the thump from where Eiji had escaped from Kawamura's lap and run into Oishi's legs. Expect Oishi didn't pick him up as he walked past the red head and collapsed in his chair, head buried in his hands. He knew the whole room was staring at him and he could feel Eiji tugging his right trouser leg.

There was nothing he could do, the doctor had come and would presumably check on Inui as well later on as he had been due to come out later today. It was the seemingly long painfully wait that nearly destroyed Oishi's patience. It was like time had stood still, whilst all the meanwhile thoughts were flying through Oishi's head.

Finally there was a knock on the door, slow and calm. It was like it was a method to calm the occupants in the room, steady as if to reassure that all was alright or something major had happened. Oishi could only hope it was the former rather than the later. Taking a long breath he stood from the desk.

"Come in," he said trying to steady his nerves without letting it sound in his voice. Without warning the fire in the grey stone-set fireplace sizzled menacingly spitting to from the middle upwards like a fountain, curving downwards in a swooping spiral, the clashes of orange and yellow hitting each other like raindrops falling. The glowing shadows of the flames slipped further along the rug looking like they would swallow the nearest people surrounding its startling warm glow. Had it been planned it could have looked incredible but at that present moment it had looked like a omen.

Oishi stared at it, remembering the first time it had done that. After the house had rebuilt he had been sitting on the rug, legs curled up next to him on his right. Alone. There had been no dog at that time, no running footsteps of children thundering down the hallways yelling and screaming at one another, no random face to peek at him through the door and no tuff of red hair running away with a piece of chocolate sneaked out of the cupboards by a certain tensai and former tennis captain. It had been truly quiet. The whispers behind your back were the whistling winds which flowed up under your shirt, prickling the skin as it goes. The crash of noise is the thunder outside wasn't drowned out by the noise of arguments taking place on the other side of the house. _The fire had flared up in an unfamiliar shape, that of a fountain, crackling like an evil witch out of an old movie still in its white and black format. It had made him jump violently. The fire spout died away more quickly than it had come, leaving its previous reduced simmering state. That night, as Oishi had walked to his room along the ice cold floors, he had stopped by the small, few boxes and things which had yet to be unpacked and organised into places. On top of the boxes lay the last present he had ever received. Who would want to give a gift to a kidnapper and a potential murderer?_

_His hands had wrapped around the tennis racket, they almost automatically went for his natural grip, even though the last time he had played was when he was still in Japan. It had been bought by the regulars for him and Tezuka had been unable to get it until a few days after his birthday. Oishi had slipped off the cover and as he went to test the strings his finger tips met the hole which indicated a broken string. The only thing he could be sure of was the strings had been tight and secure when he had been checking all the stuff today._

He missed the opening of the door, the footsteps that followed and a hushed few lines as he was captivated by the now dead fire spout. It was the clearing of the throat by the doctor that brought him back.

"Mr Oishi don't you think it would be a good idea for the children to go to bed?" The doctor said softly.

"Why?" Oishi asked in equally soft tones, although he knew was more out of habit from being around a somewhat stranger than the doctor's gentle nature.

"Ah. I need to ask some questions to you about the children's mothers before being able to give a full confirmation on your nephew's condition." Oishi took one sweeping look and decided that he didn't want to be on anyone's bad side with the glares they were sending his way.

"I think they can be quiet," he said quietly "and they'll only ask about it later." The doctor nodded seriously before taking the indicated chair Oishi held his hand out to.

"I need to ask about what you know about how their mothers were looking after them?" Oishi bit his lip, leaning back in his chair, thinking.

"My sisters held a very private life, as a brother I wasn't really allowed into their life but my parents found out about their condition and brought them back home, sending these children here. I only knew about their condition when they arrived but I know from my parents now that my sisters are getting help but it's possible that they won't recover. They think part of the problem is post natal depression. There is no father that I know about. All the knowledge about their condition is what I've got from you."

"Ah. Well that answers quite a few questions of mine. Have you looked at counselling for the children?" Oishi shook his head firmly.

"My parents have strong values and I believe that being with one another is best for them at the moment. I might suggest it to my parents when my sisters are better but until then, no." He gave a long sigh before continuing. "So what is wrong with Fu… Shusuke?" He caught himself quickly on the name but the Doctor showed no signs of picking up on it.

"I would say there's a high chance he's suffering from quite a bit of mental stress. Has he been eating?"

"Yes, breakfast, lunch and dinner. The children tend to pinch things from the cupboards when ever they feel like it but I try and keep the healthy things in reach and the unhealthy stuff higher," there was a moan from Momo at that point but Oishi continued regardless, "I watch to make sure they eat everyday, apart from the school lunches in which I give them packed. I'm trying to keep to what you prescribed." The doctor gave a wince, before giving a puzzled face. "Doctor?"

"Hmm, that's fine Mr Oishi. I want to continue with that system. I'm just slightly concerned because it doesn't look like Shusuke has gained any weight at all in the time he's been here and I expect more than what I measured." There was a shocked silence. "I would ask for you to bring Shusuke along to the clinic sometime during this week when he feels better. It's not something I can say for certain and I want to run some tests. But for the moment I'll send up the nurse in two days time to book an appointment and I'll keep in contact with you through email because the nurse and I can contact you more easily. Is that alright?"

"Yes" Oishi said as the doctor pulled out a business card, handing it to him.

"Oh is it possible you have the email address of the head of the primary school? I wish to talk to them but they aren't one of my patients. I hear you keep in contact with them closely now. I wish to discuss a suitable seclude which will help with the children" Oishi gave another nod as he opened his email, on the computer that had been on since this morning, finding the head's email address and writing it down before handing it to the doctor. He quickly looked down at the card, blanching white when he saw it.

"Can I just check I got these emails right? Yours is eijikikumarufan01 ((can't put full email!))?" The doctor gave an embarrassed nod.

"It's a name of one of the boys that was one of my juniors in Japan. I only saw him for the first year of middle school before I was moved here to England to take over my father's private health care which has been since taken over by the NHS. I asked my sister about a unique email address and she suggested that because she knew how much I admired his tennis style but that was years ago. I lost all contact with Japan very quickly. It's a very old address, I should update it. The poor guy would probably be scared silly out if he knew." Oishi had felt his breath catch in his chest before releasing very slowly. He didn't want the people in the town knowing about what happened so long ago. He quickly caught Eiji's face which was one of shock.

"And the other one, your nurse, is walaakongkwenta?"

"Yes, and just to confirm, the headmaster is Vermouth01?" Oishi gave a nod and the doctor stood. "I know my way out Mr Oishi. I'll hopefully see you at the clinic next week and not any sooner."

With that the doctor left, leaving the room in silence, broken only by a very late Leah dashing through the study doors to bark at the visitor. Oishi felt his head droop into his right hand. He felt a tug on his trouser leg and even without looking down he picked Eiji from his left. Looking at the others he gave a smile.

"It will be alright," Oishi said nodding his head firmly, only wishing he believed it inside.

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><p><strong>Those names are meant in to be in email format but of course they aren't. Anyway Eijikikumarufan01 is someone I admire and she inspired me to write the first POT story I did with her first story and she got married very recently! Which is why she has such a major role here! I hope everyone gives their best wishes.<strong>

**I'll try replying to your previous chapter reviews tonight if I am not exhausted, as I have a 6am start tomorrow and unlikely to get home until 8pm tonight without lunch. **

**All ages for this story is in my profile with some news about the first POT story I did.**


	13. Chapter 13

It was a dream. He was back. Back in his own body. The tennis club were looking at him for his command, his order. He was in charge and they respected him for his skill. Looking around he saw the regulars waiting for his command. Slowly he opened his mouth but quickly closed it when nothing came out. Blinking he tried again but once again no sound escaped from his lips. Looking up he saw everyone turning, going to do their own thing, even the regulars. Quickly the panic started to consume him as he tried to tell them to stop, unsuccessfully. They just kept on going. His breath started to hasten, his chest tightening as the world started to twirl. The world around him gained black tinges as he felt himself falling backwards, but he never met from the ground. He never did/

He awoke gasping; he couldn't quite catch his breath, like it was somehow caught in his chest and unable to make it out. Grasping at the covers, he couldn't feel the fabric underneath, even though he knew they were there. Sweat droplets clung to every fibre of his being. The dream always shattered him, even though he had it several times by now. It felt like there was a piece of string tied around his chest and slowly it was loosening as he regained his regular breathing pattern. With his right hand he swept the sweat away. His left arm was shaking uncontrollably. With quivering legs, he twisted himself out of the bed and grabbed the dark blue dressing gown from the head of the bed stand. He sat on the mattress; his feet not quite touching the floor as he let the warmth of the deep thick fabric sweep away the cold that clung to his body in its comforting manner.

He felt in the dark for the slippers by the bed and with some difficultly managed to get them on and standing up. He heard the wind whistling outside his window, howling, twisting itself up into a frenzy only to quickly to die down again, regaining its energy, to swoop past like a falcon, gliding ever so easily. Freedom in its fullest. He took a few steps towards the door, or at least where he thought the door was, the night was truly dark in Scotland where autumn was in its highest peak before descending into winter. He opened the door slowly, checking for any life from any of the other bedrooms down the hall to which there was none. He softly closed the door behind him after coming out fully and walked down the hall, mentally kicking himself for even checking. He knew that it had been fear that had caused him to take that action and there was no way he could stop it.

He was silent as he crept down the hallway and as he stopped in front of Fuji's bedroom. He pressed his ear up against the door to see if he could hear anything. From behind the dyed dark oak door he could just hear the shuffling of covers, and the muffled sounds of crying which he could only just hear over the murmuring of a deep voice, softly and gently. Tezuka looked at his hands slowly, blinking, wondering whether he should be in there with Oishi helping looking after. Is that what a leader did? He opened and closed them; almost hoping he could change the past with just that movement.

After some careful deliberations he decided to leave Oishi to care for Fuji and Inui, who was in the room after Fuji's. He made his way down the cold stairs; he could feel the chill seeking through his slippers. Before he was turned into a five year old, he never remembered stairs being this difficult to go down or the rail being as high as they were know. He had to use both hands to hang onto the wooden carved railing, to stop him from falling down the stairs. He had already seen Momo doing tumbles down the stairs and Momo was bigger than he was. The bottom stair was the worse for there was no railing as it smoothed out. It had become obvious very quickly that when Oishi had restored the house he hadn't done it with children in mind, more likely to restore it to its previous state.

He made his way safely down the stairs and walked out to the kitchen without any mishaps. As he turned on the kitchen light, Leah was the only other occupant and she only raised her head to acknowledge who it was before returning to her previous dreaming state of paws twitching, and the little whimpers as she chased after dream rabbits. He watched her for a little while before returning to what he was previously doing. He removed one of the plastic cups from the bottom cupboards, Oishi had taken care to make sure they were in reach and the glass ones out of reach. It was another thing to being in a five year old body was that everything was slightly more difficult to handle. For example glass cups would slip out of hands without warning. It wasn't the first time he had wished for his old body back.

He filled the cup with water and walked over to the table, sitting at one of the chairs. As he sat he placed his feet on the rung below the seat of the chair, and sat side wards on the chair staring out of the window at the ever raging wind and stormy weather. White lights danced across the window, slurred by the rain droplets on the outside of the window where the rain had battered against it, almost like it had been trying to get to escape the rest of the rain. So with the noise outside and the quiet on the inside, apart from the sipping of the water that he took from the glass he sat there admiring how bold the wind seemed, like it was the leader of the storm.

What would a leader do? Would he be the brave lightning that brashly went ahead without looking back? Or should he be the thunder the rolled and crackled but always waited to see what the actions would be first? He gave a long sigh before violently jumping when a noise sounded from the door behind. The cup slipped out of his hand and onto the floor, luckily for him however it was empty.

"Tezuka?" asked Oishi from the doorway. It seemed the elder man had come down from the bedrooms Tezuka noted as he retrieved the cup from under the table. "Are you feeling alright?" Tezuka only gave a nod as he placed the cup back on the table, standing there. Oishi came and sat down in front of Tezuka, lifting the youngster back on the chair where he was sitting. Tezuka made a noise of protest but didn't nothing to try and stop it.

"Tezuka," it was a warning tone now as the former captain looked away from Oishi.

"I don't think he meant it," Tezuka said quietly, playing with the cup on the table.

"Eh?" Oishi asked startled.

"Eiji, I don't think he meant it. I think we forced it on him but over time …"

"Forced what on to him?"

"Leadership."  
>"Leadership?" Oishi asked before looking up at the clock behind Tezuka, his eyes went wide as he stood from the chair, placing his hands on Tezuka's shoulders. "Listen, the Eiji I knew would never have something forced on him. " He said before going over to the sink and removing a cup, filling it with water. "I need to get back to Fuji and Inui. Make sure you get some sleep Tezuka and don't worry. Eiji would never accept leadership if forced." He said before leaving the room. Tezuka watched the storm outside once again, talking to himself softly.<p>

"Ne, Oishi. So what about when leadership is taken away?" He said to the air before looking at his hands. "I don't even know. I doubt myself Oishi. So what do I do?" all he got was a whimper from Leah as she caught one of her dream bunnies.

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><p><strong>Very awkward chapter to write, I kept struggling over this<strong>

**Anyway reviewie please!**


	14. Chapter 14

Thoughts tunnelled through his head, fast paced, unstopping, he didn't want them to stop. It kept him distracted. The thoughts that lingered in the front of his mind were dangerous, deadly and would destroy him without a second glance. Everything been going so well. His fingers were blurred as they typed quickly on the keyboard, inputting the words onto the screen. Inui and Fuji had recovered well and even were entertaining the other members of the group whilst in bed. He really should have expected it happening. In fact he knew it was going to be happening sometime, he just didn't want to acknowledge it had happened.

He had been sitting in the study, staring at the blank white screen, listening to the constant chatter from Echizen, Tezuka, Momo, Kaidoh and Kawamura playing monopoly on the floor, as it was a school holiday. They had been playing it peacefully, even quietly surprisingly enough. That's when he heard the steady calming chime from the side door of the door bell ringing. Pushing away from the desk, he left the room, softly shutting the door behind him with the simple pull of his right hand. Now he looked back at it, he hadn't even realised how unusually quiet it was. Even the weather for the time of year was only acting like a meek mouse hiding in its hole. There had been no outbursts of trouble, which Oishi started each day fearing. No yelling either. The only thing that was unplanned today was the door bell and he had guessed it was probably the postman. He was the only person, apart from the doctor, to have a reason to come up here and the doctor was not planned to come up.

Oishi opened the door and looked out. It was dark and the side lights situated on either side of the side shone out over the stone gravel frontage to the house. Although late morning, the clouds which over hung in the sky were the dark blue hue that they were at night. Sure enough the postman had been standing there, adorned with his fluorescent orange jacket. However it was not the parcels that were littered in the back of his van that was the main focus of him ringing the doorbell. It was the quivering small mass on the road, one that was making its way slowly back to the house, that he pointed to.

Golden fur made its way into Oishi's view and it quickly became clear who it was. Leah staggered and weaved all over the driveway. Her back and front paws dragged ever so slowly and it seemed she was trying her upmost effort to get back to the house. Oishi forgot all else, forgot where he was, forgot who was there. There was only one focus in his mind and that was to get to the one companion who had stuck by his side since he had gone looking for her. He had scrapped his knees on the gravel as he knelt in front of the golden retriever, stroking her fur back ever so softly as she panted, gulping and whimpering only gently, like she didn't want to hurt him. He couldn't really remember how long he knelt there, trying to comfort her pain.

As it had been the last house in his round, the postman agreed to look after the rest of the regulars, when Oishi had finally come around. He had removed his almost disused car from the garage and taken Leah down to the village's vet. He had almost driven like a desperate man, as Leah lay her head on the seat from where she sat in the passenger foot well, breathing slowly and uneasily. It had been all he could have done for, making her comfortable. The vet's table was cold and hard, as metal normally is. The vet's words seemed cold as well as she declared that Leah would be better put to sleep. Oishi had sat there stroking her soft warm fur as her breathing slowed to a halt, her heart stopped beating as his tears increased. He could feel the tracks they made as they slid down his cheeks and under his chin, to fall off and hit the rim of his t-shirt. He wished he could hear one more bark, or the vet to pull out some magic and make her live again.

He was in a daze as he made his way back, trying to find other things to remove himself from the present situation. He hadn't even thought about what to tell the rest of the group. The postman left as Oishi arrived, saying that he hadn't said anything to the children. They were all congregated in the study, even Fuji and Inui, waiting for him, the game of monopoly lay abandoned. There was no Leah to come and sit in the middle of the board, or walk across it, causing a huge chaos to the game, laughter often following in it.

Oishi remembered so many little details, as he sat his desk, staring at the picture of him and Leah sitting in the garden, her tail blurred because she had wagged it so much as he fused over her. He remembered the fact that when he had got Leah from the local dog centre, she had been old, much older than the rest of the dogs. But she had been just as active, bouncing around like a puppy, never stopping to think about what she had done but always moving on to the next thing. She had been perfect for him, someone who had been alone for so long and needed something different but not a human touch. She had made a good body to hug as well when the nightmares had gotten too much and the fears overwhelming. The vet had declared that she had lived a good decent life. She was about 12 when she had died. Her last month had been riddled with decreasing health. He should have been expecting it; Oishi knew it was going to happen. It didn't make it any easier.

Several pairs of eyes looked at him as he sat there staring out into space, the tears still flowing down his face, their cool wet feel almost ticklish. He knew he should speak and say what had happened but he couldn't speak. At that moment in time, even with the happy memories, nothing made this any easier to accept.

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><p><strong>Gomen. I've been unable to think of something to write for this chapter until today. I'm sorry if this chapter upsets people but today, Leah (the real one, my dog who this Leah is based off) was put down today. We knew it was going to happen and she led a good life, she was very well loved by both family and friends but she's had very bad health for about a year now. There are so many things I wish I could have done, like given her a last stroke, or given her a last treat. Although I have happy memories of her, its hard to think when I go home I won't see her there.<strong>

**So this chapter is for my dog, Leah, who I dearly loved.**


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